I can hardly believe tomorrow will be December 1st, and another year has come and gone so quickly! The last two years I shared with my readers how our family goes about Preparing for and Celebrating the Birth of Jesus. I am going to share those posts with you again this year. Enjoy!
December begins the month of celebrating the birth of my Savior Jesus Christ. There are many out there who choose not to celebrate some who are not Christians and even those who are Christians. Sure, Jesus may not have been born on December 25, but December 25, is the day which has been set aside to remember Jesus and his miraculous birth. Therefore, my family has decided to celebrate on this day because such a miraculous and glorious birth needs to be celebrated. For if my Savior had not been born on that day, I would still be bound in chains of my sins and not have the hope and promise of life eternal. Although the world's acknowledgment of the Messiah's birth is nearly choked out by the commercialism of the season, we as Christians desire to use whatever means we can to redeem the time.
Our thoughts are that the best way to accomplish this is to celebrate in a distinctive way, one that helps our children to focus on this wondrous act of God. Now you know we celebrate Christmas, but a greater fact for you to know is HOW we celebrate Christmas! The beauty of America is we are FREE to celebrate and worship the way we choose as long as we are not harming or infringing the freedoms of anyone else. These are just ideas of how we celebrate Christmas. I encourage you to seek out your own family ways to celebrate the wonderful birth of Jesus!
- We DO NOT promote Santa Claus! Yes, you heard me correctly, our children are not told that Santa brings them presents! I made the decision when I was 7 or 8 years old and first found out my parents were giving the gifts and NOT Santa Claus! I was crushed when I first learned the truth! In fact, when I confronted my mom (who is a Christian!) about it and asked why she lied to my brothers and me, she was in tears! I had been told NOT to lie or be deceitful and was trying very hard with all my might not to lie or be deceitful! My parents did not like lies, and I was punished IF I lied. You can imagine how a little child feels once he/she has placed their trust in someone just to find out they lied! I was upset with my parents for a while! To this day, my dad still claims Santa comes! It can be a fun game, but I decided the day I learned the truth, I would NEVER lie to my children about Santa! My husband who was homeschooled and raised in a Christian family did not celebrate Santa Claus! I was so happy of that fact because I knew in my heart I did not want to deceive my children either! So, WHAT do we tell our children about Santa Claus? First, we let them know that EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT COMES FROM GOD! Secondly, we read a story book called Santa Are You for Real which explains who Saint Nicholas was and the history behind Santa Claus. We also let them know that the best gift of all was God sending his son to die for us!
- Our Christmas decorations are centered around Christ. We have Nativity Scenes, holly, poinsettias, etc. Yes, we do put up a tree. The tree is simply decorated with a Star at the top signifying the star the wise men followed on their journey to find the Christ Child. The tree itself is a symbol of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, the lights are a symbol of Jesus who is the light of the world, and the evergreen tree is a symbol of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
- Jesse Tree or Advent is also something we do in our home. We start from Creation and go through the bible each day of December leading to the day we celebrate Christmas. We have a daily devotional and have an ornament to represent each story. My goal is to post a weeks worth of devotions for you to use in your home. I will have a separate post each week with ideas for you to have devotions with your children. We use them as part of school each day!
- We make Christmas cookies which is a family tradition from my husband. One set of cookies we make are called Swiss Christmas Cookies (my children call them paint cookies). They are cut out cookies which are in shapes which represent symbols of Christmas. The shapes include baby Jesus in the manger, Mary, Joseph, Wise Men (who did not find Jesus until he was a small child), Shepherds, angels, stars, etc. We will be making these cookies this week. I will share the recipe and pictures at that time. We send these cookies to family members and friends as well as hand deliver them to neighbors, widows, widowers, nursing homes, and others who may not have any one to celebrate Christmas. My children usually will sing at least one song. I think Timmy will play one or two on his violin this year as well!
- We DO exchange gifts, but we do not spend a lot of money. Each child usually gets three things as well as a treat bag full of goodies to eat. I usually make at least one of their gifts. We put the emphasis on Jesus and giving, not on receiving. My children LOVE to bless others. Of course, they love to get gifts as well, but they are much happier on the giving end! I usually take the older ones to Dollar Tree (makes it easy since everything is one price!) and let them buy things for their brothers and sisters as well as Daddy or anyone else they want. They use their own money they have saved for Christmas, and we usually put in a few dollars as well. They have so much fun buying and wrapping and doing things for others!
- We read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve as well as have a special Christmas Eve party. We also read the Christmas story on Christmas Day BEFORE any gifts are opened.
- We sing carols and play Christmas music all of December in our home. We also sing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Michaela sings Silent Night while doing motions which I learned as a child. Timmy plays several songs on his violin. Michaela will be playing some songs on the piano this year as well.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
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